In an effort to have a less taxing project for October, Kristin (of Space Paste Press) and I decided that we would have a project that would only take five days. This was appealing because we had been delayed a bit in meeting that month and did not want to fall behind.

The project would include a series of renderings of something that may change over the five day period. Each of these five images would be done in a different medium: graphite, ink, colored pencil, water color and print. The binding would be a simple one allowing the focus (and time) to be devoted to the image making.

My project centered around a small ivy plant that sits on my windowsill. It was interesting to look so closely at a plant that changes so rapidly; I saw at least three new leaves form. However, if I were not drawing it, I imagine that those changes would have gone unnoticed. I feel a different connection to the plant for having analyzed it with my tools and paper.

Concluding the exercise, I had unexpectedly developed strong feelings towards each of the mediums I used. I really enjoyed the graphite, water colors and ink. However, I was quickly annoyed with the colored pencils. I think it has something to do with the number of colors to choose from. There never seem to be enough colors but at the same time there are just too many. I really enjoyed the print, but since I haven’t made a print in so long, I made the rookie mistake of forgetting to reverse the image on the block. All of these things were enlightening even if there were frustrations along the way.

Space Paste Press October “sketches” project.

Past Spring Leaf Press Intellectual Collaboration Projects
September: Scroll
August: Tunnel Book
July: Paste Cloth
June: Accordion
May: Ephemera
April: National Poetry Month
March: Stuff in a Box
February: Zine
January: Jacob’s Ladder